Millcreek superintendent wants review of business office

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The Millcreek School Board's committee of the whole will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Millcreek Education Center, 3740 W. 26th St., for a presentation from Alpern Rosenthal.

Millcreek Township School District Superintendent William Hall was photographed at Asbury Elementary School on June 5, 2013.CHRISTOPHER MILLETTE/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

The Millcreek Township School District's financial practices have been under heavy scrutiny this past year, so Superintendent William Hall wants to get an outside set of eyes on the people who work most directly with district finances.

Hall said Monday at a Millcreek School Board committee meeting that he wants to contract Alpern Rosenthal, a Pittsburgh-based accounting firm, to "conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the district's business office operations."

The board did not take a formal vote on engaging the auditing firm. Instead, they will wait to make a decision at a special committee meeting -- scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Millcreek Education Center, 3740 W. 26th St. -- where representatives from the firm will give the board a special presentation.

If approved, the review could start in November, and Hall said it could continue for months and would include in-depth interviews with district employees.

Alpern Rosenthal has been working with the Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit for about a year, completing a forensic audit of that organization's finances and giving recommendations on how to improve its financial practices. Hall said he hopes some of those insights would also be helpful in Millcreek.

"We need to get that house in order," Hall said, referring to the district's business office.

The district has been financially reeling since the end of 2012 when an audit uncovered the district was far off on projections for both revenue and expenses. At the same time, it was revealed that the district, under direction from former Superintendent Michael Golde, had improperly transferred money from a capital projects bond to cover a budget shortfall.

Since then, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale has referred an audit report of the district to the state Attorney General's Office and the State Ethics Commission.

The district will soon receive its audit for the 2012-13 school year, which Hall said isn't expected to be "favorable."

SEAN McCRACKEN can be reached at 870-1714 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNmccracken.